Sailing Offbeat: Our New Adventure Across the Pacific

After spending the 2024 and 2025 seasons in the Caribbean we are getting ready for our next adventure…. a little jaunt across the Pacific with the World ARC 2026-27.

Offbeat is currently in Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia and we will be spending the next week making final preparations for our departure on Saturday January 10th heading for our first stop in Panama. The route takes us through the Canal then down to the Galapagos Islands followed by the long, nearly 3000nm crossing to the Marquesas; the first of three island groups in French Polynesia. The next few thousand miles are mostly shorter hops across the islands of the Tuamotus, the Society Islands (famous for Tahiti and Bora Bora), then on to Tonga and Fiji. When we get to Fiji we plan to leave the World ARC and sail down to Auckland, New Zealand arriving in mid-July. We will then fly back to enjoy the rest of the English summer.

More to come next week, if you want to follow us then subscribe to this website and/or follow “Sailing Offbeat” on Facebook and Instagram.

What did we get up to in 2024 and 2025

After arriving in Grenada at the end of our Atlantic crossing in December 2023 we stayed in the Caribbean until the Spring of 2024 and cruised up and down the Windward and Leeward Islands all the way to St Martin and Anguilla and back again. We then repeated a very similar route this earlier this year. I think we set foot on some 22 islands in total.

Map showing sailing route through the Caribbean, including locations like St. Lucia, Grenada, and Montserrat.

A woman sitting at a beach table with a decorative cloth, smiling at the camera, while boats are anchored in the background and a lush island is visible.

We were struck as ever by the beauty and variety of the islands, and despite the obvious effects of the warming seas on the coral, there is still plenty of wildlife to see above and below the water and gorgeous scenery. No wonder the region has been used for so many films and tv series. You’ll probably spot a set or two below!

Of course it’s a region which has also suffered so many natural disasters: we visited Montserrat which was devastated by the Soufriere volcano eruption in 1995. Soufriere is still active and half the island is still a no-go area; Dominica which was hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017, we saw it first in 2018 after our first Atlantic crossing, the good news it that is has now almost completely recovered; and of course last year Union Island in St Vincent and the Grenadines and Carriacou (Grenada) took a direct hit from Hurricane Beryl. Photos below are from March 2025 and November 2025 showing how much work as been done to start the rebuilding in Clifton, Union Island. There is still much to be done.

Throughout our travels we were fortunate to have so many members of our family and friends join us to share in our fun. Strange how many of these photos seem to involve cocktails and sunsets! Sorry to those I’ve missed out.